Quality must come first in retail health clinics

As these facilities emerge, organized medicine is working to ensure that patients are protected.

Editorial. July 23/30, 2007.

As the number of store-based health clinics skyrockets, physicians are taking steps to make sure patients aren't sacrificing care for convenience. After all, it is becoming increasingly clear that retail clinics should play by the same rules as everyone else -- with no favoritism by regulators or health plans -- to ensure that patients receive high quality treatment .

Consider the numbers: In 2006, according to a report by the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Service, about 200 store-based health clinics were in business nationwide. Projections indicate that as many as 1,000 more could open by this year's end.

This market response is partly attributed to consumers who value convenience. Forrester Research, according to the council's report, published a survey of 11,000 households in January finding that only about 3% of respondents had visited a retail-based clinic. But those who did were younger, more affluent and more likely to have children than were non-visitors. The top reasons they cited were the convenient hours and location, as well as long wait times for appointments with their physicians. Only 9% made the choice because other health care options were more costly.

As the appeal of retail clinics takes off, so do the questions about how to ensure they comport with medicine's central dictum, "First, do no harm." And a key concern surrounds their impact on physician practices -- specifically, their potential to interrupt the physician-patient relationship and to undermine coordination of care.